January 08, 2006
Another Misbegotten Idea

Hey, remember the '80s? The UK band The Fall were big then, at least by hipster standards. They also did well in the '90s, although I haven't kept up much with them lately. Nonetheless, their fans everywhere have been entertained recently by this reporter's attempt to track down the 40-some people who have been in the band over the last few decades. The article offers some good stories about the band's tempestuous history and yes, they even find Brix. I can see the movie treatment already for this, perhaps an underground music version of "Broken Flowers," with lead singer Mark E. Smith playing the Bill Murray role (just as funny, but with a more difficult accent). We see Smith tracking down his old bandmates, holding a bouquet of flowers. He drives around the country listening to loud African music. He gets assaulted by redneck husbands (or wives) while careening toward a bittersweet, ambigous ending. Title "Broken Noses"? Only drawback is the difficulty of including all those people, which would no doubt create a film of "Shoah"-like length. Get me rewrite!

Posted at January 08, 2006 12:03 PM